Team Moon; Making It Home; and Hunger Games

Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh, 2006 (629.45)
While Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and to a lesser degree Michael Collins (since he just flew the command module and didn’t walk on the moon), grabbed the world’s attention during the first moonwalk and are the ones in the history books now. But they would never have made it to the moon and back without the hard work, expertise, dedication, and passion of thousands of others that fully matched their own. This book covers some of the various systems that needed to be fully integrated and fail-safe to make the walk on the moon possible: lunar module (LM or “lem”), command module, launch pad and sequence, space suits, cameras, portable life support system (PLSS or “pliss”), decontamination processes, and chute deployment. Several unexpected difficulties presented themselves during the 12-day journey that required on-the-spot problem-solving from the experts and support crew, such as LM alarms, low fuel levels, frozen slug in LM’s fuel lines, windy conditions at the radar station in Australia, and film destroyed in a practice decontamination sequence just hours before their return. The author even outlines Apollo 11’s place in an incremental, comprehensive manned space program that began with Mercury and was then rolled into the Gemini program, and then into the Apollo program, up to Apollo 17.

After watching Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks, I wanted to read more about the teamwork required to make a successful space program. This book captures the spirit of collaboration and passion these 400,000 participants brought to their jobs, and how truly miraculous the success of the mission was at that time. Even the president had an alternative speech ready just in case he would need to comfort the nation after a failure.


Making It Home: Real-Life Stories from Children Forces to Flee with an introduction by Beverley Naidoo, 2004 (305.23)
In this book, several children who are living as refugees all over the world tell their story of what happened to them and their families, what their life was like before war and violence made them flee, what their life is like now as a refugee, and what they hope for the future. The children are originally from Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, Liberia, Sudan, and Burundi and are now living in a neighboring country or the U.S. Each section begins with an overview of the current situation in that country and key events leading to consequent violence and large refugee movement. The children’s narratives are short and simply written, but repeatedly witness the upheaval of war and violence and the pain of separation, hunger, and lose of security.

I read this book as part of the Middle School Literature Selection Committee. The overviews are four years out of date, but the human suffering is timeless. Taken in small doses, these stories could be powerful testaments to what every child needs and should have: family, food, safety, a future, and a place to call home. It is also a great introduction to some troubled spots in our world.


Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 2008
Katniss Everdeen, nicknamed Catnip by her best friend and hunting partner Gale, is a sixteen year old living on the poor edge of poor District 12, part of a future country on the North American continent where the capitol is kept in riches by the labor and resources of the 12 outlying districts. When her sister’s name is drawn as a Tribute for the annual, televised Hunger Games, she volunteers to take her place. She and her fellow Tributes are taken to the Capitol, given some tasty meals and fancy costumes, receive some training from their district’s past winners, and then transported to a large, controlled-environment arena where they compete to the death. Katniss wants to survive so she can return to her mom and sister, but she is not the strongest Tribute nor good at being adorable -- a crucial quality for securing vital help from outside sponsors. Using her survival instinct, she follows the lead of her fellow Tribute from District 12, Peeta Mellark, who has convinced the viewers that he is in love with Katniss and killing her will not be possible. Her love for Prim is real, which prompted her volunteering, but she is mostly confused about her feelings for Peeta even while playing the love angle for her viewers and potential sponsors.

With complex characters that I root for throughout the book, and complicated relationships that weigh survival against humanity and life against love, I was totally captivated by the story and look forward to a promised sequel.